{"id":14722,"date":"2018-11-14T13:08:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T17:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/?p=14722"},"modified":"2025-05-21T06:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T10:40:15","slug":"student-digital-audio-producers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/student-digital-audio-producers\/","title":{"rendered":"Randolph students turn digital audio producers with PBL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Flexible pathways in digital music<\/h1>\n\n\n
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We had a chance to hear from student digital audio producers at Randolph Union High School, in Randolph VT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They, along with innovative educator Raymond Cole, shared what makes this project-based learning class such a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this episode of The 21st Century Classroom, in tiny Randolph VT, students are turning digital audio producers, complete with a CD release party and plays on local radio.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And they\u2019re doing it in school.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bailey:<\/b> Right now, I’m currently working on a more trance piece. If you know DeadMau5<\/a><\/span>,<\/b> he’s a trance deejay and he makes kind of trance-y song. It makes you, like, get upbeat but it’s kind of like you’re lost in the world. That’s what I’m working on right now. And it’s very\u2026 It has live synths and pads, which is all very airy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randolph Union High School has begun offering a digital music class that uses a technique known as project-based learning to support students in learning about music, technology.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And more importantly, how they best learn in a classroom setting.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Emma:<\/b> Well, usually, we come together in the beginning of class and do something together. Maybe we’ll analyze a piece of music, share some of our music, talk about tempo, chord progressions. Then, we branch off a d either work in collaboration with each other or alone. And that’s the time when you really start to need to be\u2026 Like your mind goes into its creative space. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think something I really struggle with sometimes is that writer’s block sort of thing. <\/span>I think if anybody, or any other student’s experience that while writing music, it’s a really real thing. And it’s hard to overcome and it can feel really frustrating. But if you have somebody to collaborate with and say, <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Hey, come on, will you listen to my piece?” <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It can be really helpful to gather other people’s input and really help move along the creative process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raymond Cole is teaching Randolph\u2019s digital music course as part of the school\u2019s focus on project-based learning. <\/span>Project-based learning<\/a> is a type of personalized learning that fuses student passions with concrete actions in the world.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Students begin each project-based learning cycle by focusing on an idea they want to bring to life in the world, creating meaningful change. <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Raymond Cole:<\/b> My name is Raymond Cole. I am the music teacher here at RUHS, Randolph Union High school. I teach grade seven through 12. I teach jazz band, concert band, choir, digital music, and then a seventh grade general music class here at the school. I<\/span> have done music technology in the past at other schools that I have taught at, and it\u2019s been a really big part of my musical growth since I started doing music. I thought it was really really cool being able to teach a project based learning class at PBL. I usually teach most of my classes through projects anyways, so it kind of really fit really, really well. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of this year I went to a weeklong professional development session on PBLs and project-based learning classes, and learned how to teach a project based learning class, and ended up coming up with this idea, then working backwards from it. And it ended up working out really well.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cole has found that project-based learning\u2019s focus on creating, making and doing has changed how he approaches his role in the classroom.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But not the content.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Raymond Cole:<\/b> I\u2019m really more of a facilitator in this class than a teacher. Very rarely do I spend a lot of time in front of the students lecturing or giving out information that way. I usually build projects that allow them to figure out the information for themselves. I ended up having our big end-of-the-year exhibition project planned out, where we were going to create a CD and then broadcast it on a radio station and worked backwards from there. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started out the year basically saying, <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOkay, this is where we need to be. What do we already know that will help us reach our goal, and what do we need to know in order to reach our goal?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I already had an idea of what we did, but I wanted the students to be able to kind of figure that out for themselves, and then from there I structured projects that allowed them to gain this knowledge through doing the project. We started out on some more basic softwares, and working with loops, and already premade music, and they had to piece together. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That way I was able to teach the structures of music through a non-traditional sense instead of just saying, \u201cThis is form and this is how it sounds.\u201d I have them say, \u201cOkay this is form\u201d and build a song using these pre-made loops to emulate that form. It\u2019s all learning through doing versus learning through absorbing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n